The old maxim of "study hard, get good grades, and find a high-paying job with a great pension" is no longer entirely relevant to today's world. In today's world of highly mobile professionals, aging population, defined contribution pension plans, and "entitlements," reliance upon company retirement plans or governmental Social Security programs and is arguably no longer prudent. As time goes on, individuals are likely to be required to rely upon their own resources to greater and greater extent. However, principles of personal finance, investing, accounting and the accumulation of wealth are not in the curricula of most formal institutions of learning. A tool for teaching such principles in the context of playing an entertaining game is described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,878 issued to Kiyosaki et al on Oct. 27, 1998, and co-pending application Ser. No. 9/177,723 filed by Kiyosaki et al on Oct. 23, 1998.
It is particularly important to teach basic principles of financial responsibility to children at an early age. However, teaching principles of finance to young children tends to be hindered by a lack of basic arithmetic skills.
It is highly desirable to provide a tool for teaching principles of personal finance, investing, accounting financial statements and the accumulation of wealth to relatively young children in a manner that is both fun and highly effective, yet requiring that the children be capable of only the most rudimentary mathematical calculations, e.g., counting objects to a total 10 and sorting objects based on colors, shapes or symbols. It is to these ends that present invention is directed.